Senators revive call for legislated wage hike after Marcos order for review

Senators on Thursday revived the call for a legislated wage hike after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. ordered a review of minimum wage rates in every region.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, author of the bill that seeks to increase the minimum wage hike by P100, supported Marcos’ latest order and called on the President to support Senate Bill 2534 while raising the need to certify this as urgent.

“I am one with our President in calling for the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards to do a regular review of our minimum wages and for the National Wages and Productivity Commission to ensure that the boards do so,” Zubiri said.

“In tandem with this, I also urgently appeal to our President to consider Senate Bill No. 2534, or the P100 Daily Minimum Wage Increase Act, which will be a massive step toward giving our hardworking laborers the living wages that they deserve. Perhaps it can even be certified as urgent, given the continued spike in the prices of goods owing to inflation,” he added.

Zubiri also noted that the bill only needs the House of Representatives’ action.

“Our workers, despite making massive contributions to our industries, are still dealing with wages that are not enough to cover their needs… All we need is the House counterpart measure, and this will be immediately felt across the sector,” he said.

While it is good to review the regional minimum wage rates, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said it is “better to legislate a new nationwide minimum wage amount.”

“If the existing system needs the President to request the regional wage boards (RWB) to review wage rates before the RWB actually acts and reviews them, then that only shows that the system is not working. The RWBs must be out of touch with reality already,” Pimentel quipped.

“They are not sensitive anymore to the actual situation on the ground. MARAMI NA PONG NAGHIHIRAP kahit doon sa mga employed dahil ang bayad sa kanila na daily minimum wage ay hindi na makatarungan,” he emphasized.

(Many Filipinos are experiencing poverty, even those who are employed because their daily minimum wage is unjust.)

Like Zubiri, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senator Francis Escudero stressed the need to push the House of Representatives to approve the counterpart measure of SB 2534.

“The Senate has already passed the P100 daily minimum wage rate increase bill and is currently waiting for legislative action on the part of the House of Representatives,” Villanueva said while mentioning his bill seeking to establish standards for living wage.

“I hope this will lead to him certifying the Senate’s minimum wage increase bill para i-approve na din ng [H]ouse,” Escudero said in a separate text message.

On Labor Day, Marcos ordered the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Boards to review the minimum wage rates in every region “with due consideration to the impact of inflation amongst others.”

The President also directed the National Wages and Productivity Commission to review its rules to ensure regular and predictable schedule of wage review, issuance, and effectivity to reduce uncertainty and enhance fairness for all stakeholders.